William Anthony Auth Jr. (May 7, 1942 – September 14, 2014) was an American editorial

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and children's book illustrator. Auth is best known for his syndicated work originally drawn for ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

,'' for whom he worked from 1971 to 2012. Auth's art won the cartoonist the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

in 1976 and the

Herblock Prize The Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning is an annual $15,000 after-tax cash prize, and a sterling silver Tiffany trophy.

in 2005.

Biography

Early years

William Anthony "Tony" Auth Jr. was born May 7, 1942, in

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, the son of William Anthony Auth Sr. and Julia Kathleen Donnelly. At age five Auth was bedridden with

rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful jo ...

for a number of months.William Yardley
"Tony Auth, Pulitzer-Winning Cartoonist, Dies at 72,"
''New York Times,'' Sept. 15, 2014. During this period of protracted convalescence, Auth was encouraged by his mother to take up drawing as an enjoyable and worthy creative pastime. Inspired by comic book art, Auth began to draw regularly, making use of an ample supply of paper, pencils, and crayons provided by his parents. At age nine, he and his family moved to Los Angeles, California where Auth continued his education. Auth attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

where he earned his bachelor's degree in

biological illustration Biological illustration is the use of technical illustration to visually communicate the structure and specific details of biological subjects of study. This can be used to demonstrate anatomy, explain biological functions or interactions, direct su ...

in 1965.Michael Cavna
"RIP, Tony Auth: Colleagues Salute Pulitzer-Winning Philadelphia Journalist as a Singular, Big-Hearted Artist,"
''Washington Post,'' Sept. 15, 2014. At UCLA he also worked on the ''

Daily Bruin The ''Daily Bruin'' is the student newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles. It began publishing in 1919, the year UCLA was founded. The ''Daily Bruin'' distributes about 6,000 copies across campus each school day. It also publis ...

'', the school newspaper, as well as for various alternative newspapers in the Los Angeles area. Auth was married to Eliza Drake Auth, who is a realist landscape and portrait painter. Together they had two children. The couple resided in

Wynnewood, Pennsylvania Wynnewood is a suburban unincorporated community, located west of Philadelphia, straddling Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and Haverford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The community was named in 1691 for Dr. ...

Career

After Auth graduated he became a medical illustrator at

Rancho Los Amigos Hospital Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center is a rehabilitation hospital located in Downey, California, United States. Its name in Spanish means 'Friends' Ranch'. History Overview Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, or Ran ...

, a large teaching hospital associated with the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. During his time as a medical illustrator, Auth began drawing political cartoons. Auth started out doing one political cartoon a week for a weekly alternative newspaper. He eventually worked his way up to drawing three political cartoons a week for the UCLA ''

''. In 1971, Auth was hired on as staff editorial cartoonist by ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. He would work for this same company for 41 years. Auth's work was published by the ''Inquirer'' five days a week, reaching an additional national audience via

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

. Although his personal politics leaned to the left, Auth used his work as an equal opportunity foil against political incompetence by politicians from both sides of the Congressional aisle. He was an outspoken critic of financial corruption on

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...

, racial bigotry and intolerance, and gun violence, driving home his points with wit and a

minimalistic Minimalism is a movement in visual arts, music, and other media that began in post–World War II Western art. Minimalism may also refer to: *Minimalism (computing), a philosophy of programming and configuring computers *Minimalism (philosophy), ...

artistic style. Auth made use of a light table in composing his finished work, in which he attempted to mimic the rough-hewn simplicity of rapidly drawn preliminary sketches."Farewell, Tony Auth,"
Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, Sept. 15, 2014. His content was acerbic and made use of

irony Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...

in hammering home his political points. In 1976 Auth's work was rewarded with a

. He would be a finalist for the Pulitzer two more times during his four-decade career, finishing on that shortlist in 1983 and 2010. Auth also won the prestigious

Herblock Prize The Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning is an annual $15,000 after-tax cash prize, and a sterling silver Tiffany trophy.

in 2005, an award given by a foundation established by the late political cartoonist

Herb Block Herbert Lawrence Block, commonly known as Herblock (October13, 1909October7, 2001), was an American editorial cartoonist and author best known for his commentaries on national domestic and foreign policy. During the course of a career stretchi ...

. Auth retired from his position at ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' in 2012, taking a buyout from the paper. Following his departure from the paper, Auth went to work for the online news producer NewsWorks.org, owned by Philadelphia news-talk radio station

WHYY-FM WHYY-FM (90.9 MHz, "91 FM") is a public radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its broadcast tower is located in the city's Roxborough neighborhood at () while its studios and offices are located on Independence Mall in Cen ...

, where he became the publication's first digital artist-in-residence. His other work includes the comic strip ''Full Disclosure'', which he drew from 1982 to 1983, and ''

Norb Norb may refer to: Norb abbreviation of the name Norbert * ''Norb'' (comic), a newspaper comic strip that began in 1989 * Norb, a character in the anime series ''Eureka Seven'' * Norb, A person that values athleticism at the expense of happine ...

'', which he produced in 1989. In addition to his ongoing daily newspaper work, Auth published several collections of his political cartoons and illustrated eleven children'/> He was 72 years old.

Awards

Auth received many awards over his career which included: * five

Overseas Press Club Award The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

s *

Sigma Delta Chi Award The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (formerly Sigma Delta Chi) for excellence in journalism. The SPJ states the purpose of the award is to promote "the free flow of information vital ...

for distinguished service in journalism * Thomas Nast Prize *

Herblock Prize The Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning is an annual $15,000 after-tax cash prize, and a sterling silver Tiffany trophy.

(2005) *

(1976) Auth was also awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

in 2012 by the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Works

* ''Behind the Lines: Cartoons.'' Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977. * ''That Game from Outer Space: The First Strange Thing that Happened to Oscar Noodleman.'' With Stephen Manes. New York: Dutton, 1983. —Juvenile fiction. * ''Mean Murgatroyd and the Ten Cats.'' With Nathan Zimelman. New York: Dutton, 1984. —Juvenile fiction. * ''The Gang of Eight.'' (Contributor.) Boston: Faber and Faber, 1985. * ''Lost in Space: The Reagan Years.'' Kansas City, MO: Andrews and McMeel, 1988. * ''Mission impossible?: An Illustrated Guide to Defense Planning in the 1990s: A Report.'' With Stephen Daggett. Washington, DC: Committee for National Security, 1989. * ''Sleeping Babies.'' Racine, WI: Western Publishing Co., 1989. —Juvenile fiction. * ''NORB.'' With Daniel Manus Pinkwater. Seattle, WA: MU Press, 1991. * ''Kids' Talk.'' With Linda K. Harris. Kansas City, MO: Andrews and McMeel, 1993. —Juvenile fiction. * ''The Tree of Here.'' With Chaim Potok. New York: Alfred A. Knopf/Random House, 1993. —Juvenile fiction. * ''The Sky of Now.'' With Chaim Potok. New York: Alfred A. Knopf/Random House, 1994. —Juvenile fiction. * ''A Christmas Quartet: Four Modern Tales of the Holiday.'' With Chris Satullo. Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Inquirer, 2000. * ''My Curious Uncle Dudley.'' With Barry Yourgrau. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2004. * ''The Hoboken Chicken Emergency.'' With Daniel Manus Pinkwater. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2007. —Juvenile fiction. * ''A Promise is a Promise.'' With Florence Parry Heide. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2007. —Juvenile fiction. * ''Topsy-Turvy Bedtime.'' With Joan Goldman Levine. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2008. —Juvenile fiction. * ''A Bedtime Story.'' With Joan Levine. London: Walker, 2008. —Juvenile fiction. * ''Uncle Pirate.'' With Douglas Rees. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008. —Juvenile fiction. * ''The Art of Tony Auth: To Stir, Inform and Inflame.'' With David Leopold. Philadelphia: Camino Books, 2012.

Notes

External links

*
"Tony Auth, 2005,"
Herb Block Foundation —Includes video of Auth's 2005 acceptance speech. * Marty Moss-Coane
"Deadline Artist Tony Auth on Political Cartoons and More,"
Radio Times, WHYY-FM, April 9, 2012. —Audio interview.
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Auth, Tony 1942 births 2014 deaths American editorial cartoonists The Philadelphia Inquirer people Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning winners Artists from Akron, Ohio Artists from Philadelphia UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni